CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS READING LIST Some Books That Will Probably be Available to and May be Helpful to Essay Contestants Prepared by the National Columbus Celebration Association 1. The best biography in English is considered to be: Samuel Eliot Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus, Vols. I and II, originally published by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1942. It was republished by Time, Inc. in two softbound volumes in 1962 as part of the Time Reading Program. A shorter one‐volume version was published under the title Christopher Columbus, Mariner, in 1955 and was available in a compact paperback edition A later and briefer version of the Columbus story is found in Morison’s, The European Discovery of America, The Southern Voyages, 1492‐1616, published by Oxford University Press in 1974, Chapters 1‐11. With Mauricio Obregon, Morison also produced a richly‐illustrated book of text telling the story and photographs (unfortunately not in color): The Caribbean as Columbus Saw It, published by Little, Brown and Company in 1964 in Boston. 2. Felipe Fernandez‐Armesto. Columbus, published by Oxford University Press, New York, 1991, is one of several books that came out in preparation for the Quincentenary 3. The following is another, by a man who was several years ago said to be the greatest authority on Columbus: Paolo Emilio Taviani, Columbus —The Great Adventure: His Life, His Times, and His Voyages, originally published in Italy in 1989; English translation by Luciano F. Farina and Marc A. Beckwith published by Orion Books, New York in 1991. He has a much larger two‐ volume book on Columbus. 4. A book from that same time by a science writer: John Noble Wilford, The Mysterious History of Columbus: An Exploration of the Man, the Myth, the Legacy, published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1991. 5. A more recent volume: Martin Dugard, The Last Voyage of Columbus: Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain's Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Swordfight, Mutiny, Shipwreck, Gold, War, Hurricane, and Discovery, published by Little, Brown, and Company, New York, 2005. This actually tells the story of much more than merely his fourth voyage, which, however, is perhaps his most interesting one, and about which most people seem to know the least. It was certainly his most adventurous one, as the title suggests. Christopher Columbus Reading List Page 1 6. Another recent book which tells the story but also reports on interviews with a number Columbus and other experts is Klaus Brinkbaumer and Clemens Hoges, The Voyage of the Vizcaina: The Mystery of Christopher Columbus's Last Ship, published in German by a German publisher in 2004; English translation by Annette Streck, published by Harcourt. Inc., New York, 2006. It focuses on the purported finding of one of Columbus's ships from his last voyage, and has some interesting material about underwater archaeology. Additional Reading Complied by the American History Committee, NSDAR The Four Voyages: Being His Own Log‐Book, Letters and Dispatches with Connecting Narratives by Christopher Columbus and J. M. Cohen, Penguin Classics, May 5, 1992. Christopher Columbus Explorer of the New World by Robin Doak, Compass Point Books, 1963. Columbus and the Age of Discovery by Zvi Dor‐Ner, New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc, 1991. Columbus for Gold, God and Glory by John Dyson, New York: Simon Schuster, 1991. The Voyages of Columbus by Rex and Thea Rienits, Cresent Books, 1989. Christopher Columbus and the Conquest of Paradise: Second Edition by Kirkpatrick Sale, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2006. The Worlds of Christopher Columbus, by William D. Phillips, Jr. and Carla Rahn Christopher Columbus Reading List Page 2 .